ncmike said:
Some of the responses to your original post were comical (I was just browsing some old posts and came across this one - maybe I can be of experienced help here). Don't bother OCing the GPU or memory - these really don't buy you anything other than trouble unless you are a gamer, then just get a more current GPU.
The i7-920 was one of the best overclocking processors ever and remains so. As was mentioned already, the 'K' designation for Intel CPUs wasn't even in existence when these Bloomfield class CPUs came out. Although my current beast is an i7-3930 OCed to 4.6GHz, my i7-920 is still running strong as a media server running at a 4.0Ghz clock for years - it still outperforms newer CPUs when overclocked properly.
Here are my i920 overclocking specs as a reference point - YMMV. With an H100 cooler the temp never exceed 75c running the most stressful Prime95 blended tests for 24 hours and never fails under use under heavy loads.
CPU: i7-920 (D0 stepping) Socket 1366 X58 Chip Set
Cooler H100
Memory: 24GB 1600Mhz Corsair Vengence
Motherboard: Asus P6T
Overclock Mode: XMP
eXtreme Memory Profile: Profile #1 1600MHz
CPU Ratio: Auto
SpeedStep: Enabled (set AFTER stress testing)
Turbo Mode: Disabled (enabling turbo mode with a 4.0GHz OC will make it unstable)
Base Clock: 200 (yes, you DO best overclock the i7-920 by upping the BCLK)
PCIE: 100
DRAM Frequency: DDR3-1603MHz
UCLK Frequency: 3208MHz (always double the DRAM Frequency)
QPILink Data Rate: Auto
The following DRAM timings should be set automatically as a result of selecting XMP OC mode):
DRAM CAS # latency: 8
DRAM Delay: 8
DRAM Pretime: 8
DRAM ACT: 24
DRAM Cycle: 88
CPU Voltage: 1.28125
CPU PLL Voltage: Auto
QPI/DRAM Core Voltage: 1.3
IOH Voltage: Auto
IOH PCI Voltage: Auto
ICH Voltage: Auto
ICH PCIE Voltage: Auto
DRAM Bus Voltage: 1.62
Load Line Calibration: Enabled (adds stability)
CPU Differential Amp: Auto
CPU Clock Skew: Auto
CPU Spread Spectrum: Auto
IOH Clock Skew: Auto
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled
Ironically you can get an i7-920 CU for $40 on eBay and also 1366 MOB for a song outperform many late model CPU/Bulds. My 4.0GHz i7-920 is still a beast of a quad-core build.
Regards,
Mike
So the h100i will fit and work well with the i7-920 and do around 4ghz. Maybe I should shoot for that then, because dropping money on a new CPU+MB feels like it would be kind of stupid if the clocks can go over 3.5ghz.
I feared overclocking though when I got it due to how hot it can get 80C+ under load and also I read that it's more deeply tied in with the ram in someway that if you mess up on overclocking it, you can fry both your CPU and the RAM.
Looks like I need to rethink my i7 5820k build idea. Maybe just overclock with new cooler/thermal paste and stick a R9 290x in it and be done. Thanks for the tip, even though I am not the OP.